China: The Capital City

Like our Thailand trip, our adventure in China is just too big and too varied to fit in one post.  We packed up and left last Saturday for our trip of a lifetime.  We landed in Beijing, collected our baggage, were promptly met by our tour guide, Tina, who swept us off to our hotel to get settled in for the next few days.

We started out bright and early Sunday for a full day:  Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and a Chinese Kung Fu Show.  Tiananmen Square was very impressive.  I was 11 the summer that the protests happened and the images of "Tank Man" are ingrained in my mind; I remember it being shown over and over again on the news.  The square was originally built as a promenade from Tiananmen gate to the Forbidden City.  It is now the largest city square in the world.  It is flanked by the National Museum of China and Mao's Mausoleum.  Our stroll down the promenade wound up in front of the South gate of the Forbidden City, and under a rather large portrait of Chairman Mao.  The portrait of Mao is 6' tall by 4' wide and is replaced every year.  What was also striking were the sheer numbers of people in line to see Mao's Mausoleum.  Tina explained that Mao is still highly revered in China by the older generation; I asked her about the younger generation and she smiled and said they respect their parents.  Interesting answer I thought. 

We continued on to the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, learning and seeing a lot of history from Imperial China.  But the interesting part of the afternoon didn't come from the history, it came from the singing in the park.  The older generation gathers at the park surrounding the Temple of Heaven every weekend to sing revolution songs.   On some level it reminded me of Mountain Music Night in North Carolina.  One thing is for sure, you could not mistake the feeling of freedom in the air as they sang their hearts out or the comaraderie that lingered once the song was done. 

Day two promised to be an even more adventurous day with visiting the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall on the agenda.  We started by walking down the Sacred Way, the ornate road which leads to the tombs.  The road  has 18 pairs of stone statues of mythical animals and leads to the Dragon and Phoenix Gate.  From there we went to the Ming Tomb site and toured the Dingling Tomb. 

After a quick lunch, it was time for the highlight of our day - the Great Wall of China.  We headed for the Badaling section, which is the best preserved but most visited section.  We couldn't have ordered more perfect weather for our climb. And yes, it was a climb; some areas were so steep that the steps really should have been called a ladder. The girls did really well and climbed most of the way up the section, finally giving up at 1/4 mile left to the top.  Ronnie pressed on while Tina and I rested with the girls and took in the view.

The wall wiped us out, as I had imagined, and luckily, I had the foresight to plan a down day for us.  We slept in and laid around the room, finally getting motivated to go out and do some exploring on our own.  First up, some Communist kitsch.  While browsing Lonley Planet's website, I found an article on Pyongyang Art Studio.  Being that we are interested in all things Jonger, we couldn't resist going to see.  After getting good and lost, though we found a McDonald's for the girls to eat at, we finally stumbled onto the store.  The studio is the "gift shop" of Koryo Tours, a tour company that specializes in taking Westerners to North Korea.  It was very interesting to see the propaganda posters, especially those that depict the US as the "Evil Empire."  It was even more enlightening to talk with the folks at Koryo about their impressions of Pyongyang and the Korean Peninsula relationship.

Later in the day, we visited the Panjiayuan "Dirt Market" and the Hongqiao Pearl Market for some light shopping.  Panjiayuan is a large flea market and you can find all sorts of neat things for sale.  Since we were there on a weekday, a lot of the vendors were closed, but it was still fun to browse.  After we had our fill of teapots, jade, and junk, we headed for the Pearl Market.  We wheeled and dealed for some shoes and other trinkets. Half the fun of shopping here is the bargaining - "No way, that costs X." "No, nevermind, I'll go see the other vendor down/up stairs."  Ronnie and our finances would be in serious trouble if I could shop like that all the time.  Most the time I'm only bargaining to see what I can get an item for, not because I need it but because I like the game of how cheap can I get it.  At the end of the day, we were out of the market with money still in our pockets and some fun things in our backpack.   

Our last day in Beijing was spent visiting the Beijing Zoo and the Summer Palace.  The girls loved seeing the pandas and we met a lovely older gentleman at the zoo.  He was a volunteer who spoke broken English, but he was thrilled to share the story of the pandas and the research with the girls, complete with his own photo album.  We discovered that he taught himself English once it was announced that Beijing would host the Olympics, because he knew there would be lots of visitors to the zoo and he wanted to show off his pandas.  Tina mentioned that it was surprising how much English he spoke because most of the older generation hasn't bothered to learn English at all; he laughed and said it kept his mind sharp as a spear and him younger. 

We made our way to the Summer Palace in the afternoon.  The Summer Palace was the "vacation spot" for the Emperor and is what Camp David wishes it could be.  The grounds and buildings are beautifully done, with a full lake at it's disposal.  We enjoyed walking around, though the girls were mobbed with paparazzi several times while there. 

  

Yeah, the paparazzi...  see, American children are a spectacle of sorts in Asia.  Now, add to that the fact that Holly is fair with blonde-ish hair and blue eyes and Sarah has silky light brown hair with really big eyes and you have a full fledged media attack.  Here is a video Ronnie took of the girls.  It all started rather innocuously with an Asian woman asking if she can take a picture with the girls.  The video is what it escalated into.  

So after the girls got their Red Carpet treatment, and a quick trip to the Olympic site with more paparazzi action, it was time to bid farewell to Beijing.  I wish we had just a little more time because there were some other sites I wanted to see, but Ronnie and I both agree that a return trip with a more robust Great Walk hike is in our future. 

China: On Your Mark - Get Set - Go!!!!!

We leave for China tomorrow!!!!! To say I am excited that it's finally here is an understatement. We have been planning this trip since last August, made the final tweaks to it in November, and paid cash for it in January. It is the trip of a lifetime for us, and I just know it will be one of the highlight when I'm 60 and talking to my grandchildren about the we did when their mom was their age.

Some folks have asked what all are we doing, so here is a quick rundown:

Beijing for 5 Days: Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, a Chinese Kung Fu Show at Red Theatre, climbing the China Great Wall - Badaling section, the Ming Tomb, Summer Palace, and the Pandas in Beijing Zoo.

Xi'an for 3 days: Terracotta Soldiers, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the City Wall, Cantonese Cooking Class, Islamic Great Mosque, and the Hanyangling Museum.

Lhasa, Tibet for 3 days: the Tibet Museum, Carpet Factory, the Jokhang Temple, Barkhor street market, Tibetan Traditional Medicine Hospital, Potola Palace, Sera Monastery, and the Norbulingka Park.

Shanghai for 2 days: the Shanghai Museum, the Yuyuan Garden, Nanjing Road and the famous Bund area, and the Portman Acrobatic Show at the Shanghai Centre Theatre.

Hong Kong for 3 days: Star Ferry, Victoria's Peak, Avenue of the Stars, Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade, Symphony of the Stars, Hong Kong DisneyLand.

Needless to say, we are going to need a vacation from our vacation.



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Mothers Day Break

So, this is a hold up, I missed one post.   I was so busy editing the China notes, that I completely forgot to finalize this one.  Blogger had been messing up before I left for China, so this has been out in draft for a while.  Ooooppps!   Better late than never though.  Without further ado, I'll let you read the post that almost never was. 

With all this travel I'm planning, the last thing you think we would do is go out of town for the weekend right.  Yeah....  no, I am all about getting some sights in. Especially when there are good friends involved in the fun. This weekend was Mother's Day weekend and the Lotus Lantern festival in Seoul.   I couldn't not go to the lantern festival, and really, is there anything better than letting your kids make a mess that someone else has to pick up (well kinda). 

We packed up and headed to Seoul Friday night, with the intentions of meeting up for dinner with our friends the Milks.  As usual, traffic was horrid and Ronnie didn't get there until later, so we opted to eat dinner in and meet up in the morning.  This time, we stayed at the Marriott across the Han from Yongsan because there was no room in the Dragon Hill Lodge for us. 

Saturday morning, we grabbed some breakfast and headed to meet the Milks.  I convinced Ronnie to let me peak in the Chosun Gift Shop.... boy was that a mistake.  I found a beautiful mahogany wood bar from the Philippines.  I have been wanting one of these bars for a while, but most of them that I found were too Asian for my home and wouldn't blend well with my other furniture.  Not that I wanted it to be all matchy-matchy, but I did want something that would go nicely.  And that it does.  Ronnie took one look and gave me the green light.

Since buying a piece of furniture wasn't on my list, it pushed us back a little on getting our day of exploration started.  Jenn and I decided that the Seoul city bus tour would be the best way to get us all over town. We grabbed some lunch and hopped on the bus.  Before we knew it, we were at our first stop, the Namsangol Hanok Village.  This is a traditional village that has five restored Korean houses and a pavilion.  We had so much fun exploring the village and taking in the sights.  And before we knew it, it was time to get back on the bus. 

The next stop was the N Seoul Tower on Namsan.  The tower is 236.7 m (777 ft) in height (from the base), but tops out at 479.7 m (1,574 ft) above sea level because of it's location on the mountain.  We got off the bus and hiked up the hill to the tower entrance and made our way to the top.  Unfortunately, it was a hazy day (as usual) but we were able to see south to the Han and north to the Blue House.  The second best thing about the tower is the bathroom, which face the outside of the tower so you can enjoy the view. 

 (left) N Seoul Tower; (right) view from the top

(left) Locks of love at the tower; (right) Paparazzi

Since it was getting later in the day, we hopped back on the bus and made our way to Jongno to get some dinner and a good seat for the parade. We lucked out and had a perfect view, though one of the city cops decided to stand in front of us most of the time (Epic fail on their part).  We got the girls settled in for the parade, and Jenn and I made our way to Insadong and picked up some street cart snacks for the parade. The girls enjoyed the parade and were gifted lanterns by the participants.   It was getting late, so we made our way to the subway and headed on back to our rooms.

 
Sunday we decided to sleep in and be lazy rather than running around town (school isn't out yet here).   We played at the Dragon Hill playground, mulled around the Yongsan BX and eventually headed home early afternoon. 

Biiiii-cycle Biiii-cycle Biiiii-cycle

Holly wants to ride her Biii-cycle.  She wants to ride her bike.

Sarah wants to ride her Bii-cycle.  She wants to ride it where we like.....

I just love Queen.  We have bicycle riders!!!!    Holly has been teetering along without training wheels for some time now.  We took them off last summer and have been working on keeping her up.  Finally, something has clicked and now off she goes without any help or hesitation. 

So yesterday, Sarah saw Holly riding without her training wheels and declared that she too shall ride her bike without training wheels.   When we got home today, Ronnie took the wheels off for her.   She's still a little wobbly, but doing great otherwise.  



They are growing up way too fast!

Another Little Piece of My Heart

Every military spouse I know uses the same lingo when talking about homes.  We either refer to them as our house we lived in when we were stationed at X or our forever home.  The forever home is the house we will purchase when we retire.  It's not to say that the other homes don't hold any significance for me, it's just that they were our homes along the way.  

For example, our home in Oklahoma was the first house Ronnie and I lived in as a married couple.  North Carolina was where Holly was born, as well as where Ronnie went to war twice.  Texas was where Sarah was born.  Korea is our first international home.  And I am quite positive that our next home will have it's very own significance in and of itself. 

Just like normal families who don't move at the whim of the government, we live and work in the community and form friendships and bonds that move with the rest of our household goods.  We keep an eye out on the news in that area while keeping up with our friends that the military did not move with us. 

This weekend was an especially trying weekend for me and my adopted homes.  In Texas, over thousands of acres are burning and several friends have been evacuated from their homes as the fires advanced on Wichita Falls.  The fire departments are out battling the fires that are being egged on by the winds.  One can only imagine how exhausted they are.  In North Carolina, several F3 tornadoes touched down in Sanford and Fayetteville on Saturay afternoon.  The Lowes in Sanford was demolished along with several homes in the area.  Fayetteville didn't fare much better. 

Please keep these communities in your hearts and prayers as they start the healing and recovery process.  I know they will be in mine as they will always hold a special place in my heart.

Life's a Bowl of Cherry Blossoms

It's coming; it's coming!!!!   Spring is coming!  Finally!   And nothing signals spring’s arrival better than the delicate, pale pink cherry blossoms that burst in unison from once barren trees.  We have excitedly awaited the cherry blossoms this year.  Here is a tree from just a few days ago:

They're just waiting to bust open!    Like any good tourist, we sought out a local cherry blossom festival.  Ronnie was up for a trip after his TDY and the weather was nice, so we took off for Seoul. 

We decided to go to Yeouido, since the streets were blocked off and it seemed easier to get to on public transportation than some of the other sites.  Researching the area, I read that we needed to get there early and expect crowds, but that the trees were near the Han and promised for a nice afternoon.  

And that we got...  When we arrived in Seoul, we decided to seek out some samgyupsal and galbi (otherwise known as beef on a leaf).  It's one of the many Korean dishes we crave in the Oliver household....  even the girls beg to go now.   Wandering around Yeongdeungpo, we found a galbi house pretty quickly and filled our bellies with grilled Korean goodness.

We leisurely strolled down to Hangang Park and Yeouido, enjoying the weather and each other's company.  We finally got to the cherry blossom streets and what a site it was.  Of course, we were there with thousands of our closest Korean friends.  But no matter, the weather was beautiful and there were light pink blossoms everywhere.

  

DAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

Guess who came home this morning.......  and much to the surprise of two little girls. 

Ronnie has been TDY for a few weeks, with a small break for our Thailand getaway.  He emailed me last week and said they were all going to get home on Saturday morning, a whole day earlier than what we originally thought.  I decided to not tell the girls - call me a pessimist but I've seen this one before.  But they delivered this time.  He called me around 8:45 and told me they were at Osan and he was just getting everything wrapped up and would be on his way.  It was almost too much for me to bear, but I kept the secret and told the girls that our neighbor Heather may be coming up in about an hour. 

And then the doorbell rang....